Zhao Jian, a company manger in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, has not eaten a piece of pork since the reported outbreak of streptococcus suis last month.

His favorite Wu's Restaurant caters to government and company employees who are unable to go home for lunch. Its menu consists of household dishes whose prices range from 5 yuan (US$0.6) to 20 yuan (US$2.5). "Most of the dishes are made of pork," said Wu Pangzi, the restaurant owner.

One of Wu's relatives, who runs a private slaughterhouse in nearby Pixian County, used to send 40 kilogrammes of pork to his restaurant every day to cater for the 200 or so diners. "But since late last month, I haven't bought pork from my relative's slaughterhouse, because the government has set up checkpoints on the highway to stop the transportation of pork," Wu said.

Diner's dilemma

Liu Jingming, a 42-year-old butcher in Deyuan Township in Pixian, has been on a "vacation" for nearly 10 days. "As few people dare to eat pork, the boss of the private slaughterhouse where I work has temporarily closed it down," he said.

Wu now buys about 5 kilograms of pork at the nearest farm produce market as the number of pork consumers in his restaurant has nosedived.

"Most diners eat fish and rabbits, few people order dishes made of pork. Some diners have asked me to use fish as the raw material to cook the dish 'Twice-cooked meat,'" said Ding Yuanyou, a 29-year-old chef in the restaurant.

"As an increasing number of diners prefer fish and rabbits, their prices have risen by 10 percent in the local farm produce market, while the price of pork has not dropped, for many pork sellers have stopped their business," he said.

Wu said he has to go to the market early to buy pork. It would be sold out if he arrives there after 11 o'clock in the morning. "The reason is that only a few people sell pork now," he said.

Conversely, an increasing number of people in Ziyang, Sichuan, where the first case of the streptococcus suis was discovered on June 24, are again eating pork, said Zhang Jing, a government worker.

People believe that it is now safe to eat pork because the government has reinforced quarantine, he said.

New cases

One new human case of streptococcus suis and one death caused by the disease were reported yesterday in Sichuan, according to the Ministry of Health.

By noon yesterday a total of 206 human cases, including 165 confirmed patients and 41 suspected cases, have been reported in 10 cities of the province. So far 38 people have died there.

No other human or pig cases of the disease were reported in other areas of the country yesterday, the ministry said.

(China Daily August 4, 2005)